The India Times reports that actor Aamir Khan has won Best Debut Director Award-2007 by the Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Foundation in Chennai for Taare Zameen Par.
Khan proves to be more and more intriguing as time goes by, moving from charismatic leading-man roles in the 90s to choosing more intriguing parts and substantive projects in later years. He produced and starred in Lagaan , nominated for an Oscar in 2002, and he also took on the historical Mangal Pandey and paired opposite the return of 90s iconic actress Kajol in 2006's Fanaa.
He also chose a role in the distinctive and sociopolitically significant Rang De Basanti in 2006, which actually screened at the CCA in Santa Fe (and received a less-than-knowledgeable review in the the New Mex's art paper Pasatiempo which prompted my own response in this contextual piece here.
But Taare Zameen Par marks his debut has a director ( although he stars in it as well), handling the intimate, emotional subject of a young boy struggling with dyslexia and schooling. AK has been getting a lot of accolades for the film, and its also been noted that he hasn't taken center stage on this, giving himself second billing in the credits and entering the film's story nearly half-way through. In an industry -- whether Bolly or Holly -- normally full of egos and hype, AK has clearly put the film and the story first.
Indian cinema gets scant showings here in N.M. (though I'd love to change that) so I may have to wait for a DVD release to see it.
Over the past few years , he's chosen roles with a strong maverick or anti-establishment streak, and im curious to see if theres any of that in the current role as an art teacher and advocate for the student , or if its a very different departure for him.
AK is working on the director's commentary for the DVD as we speak - and is doing so with a large amount of input from his fans via his blog ( Ok, Ill put my media hat on).
His site is breathtakingly simple - one blog, a chat room that he will occasionally join, some archive links, and thats it.
The posts are interesting: He 's personable, down to earth, unpretentious, unloads the minutiae of a heavy work day without seeming whining, and somehow says he manages to go though an average of about 2000 comments a post, and will often pick a few of them to respond to. I think he will at some point need help for the manhours involved in moderation and controlling the flow (theres techniques and tools to do that also) but its touching to see such a hands-on connection removing the distance between star and fan.
I hope he can sustain it, but one gets a sense that he truly relishes the connections, the contact, as an antidote to the craziness that engulfs the film industry, so I would think he 'll make every effort to keep it hands-on.
Its a place where theres really no PR, no spin. On TZP's opening night, his post is almost chillingly spare. With a post title of "Reactions", AK's entry, in full, reads:
All right give it to me.
You can feel the intensity in that dense, sparse request: the hope of a good reaction, the fear of a negative one is so palpable.
some 3,000 comments later, he need not have feared.
I can't think of any other celeb site (nor celebs) that would do something so direct, so engaging. I cant think of too many media outlets of any type that are so effective.
As I say on the new media blog, its all about connections, and what you do with that connectivity.AK and his fan base take it to the smack-on-the-forehead-Duh level: they use it to connect, simply but powerful.
